Not many fresh herbs to harvest from outdoors this time of year.  Good time to put all those dried herbs to use then.  Of course, we use them all the time in the many value added products we make.  So what to do with dried herbs?  Here are a few suggestions.
Soups, Stews and Teas
Cooking would seem obvious for using dried herbs.  Warm steaming soups and stews with savory flavors and aromas not only warm the tummy but the soul.  A big pot of soup is often found simmering on our stovetops with plenty to last not only for supper but as a good lunch pick-me-up.  Since we are both tea drinkers, there are quite a few varieties the two houses.  Some for calming or stress relief, others for a morning wakeup and a little energy.  Even frozen veggies can get a boost with a good dose of herbs.  Flavoring with herbs is one time we believe that more is better. Check out this blog for why we say, if a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, we tend to go for 1 Tablespoon. 
Colds and Coughs
Winter time seems to be when sneezing, coughing and germs abound.  Dried herbs are useful in making disinfecting sprays to cleanse surfaces or sprays for soothing sore throats. Herbs are also found in Fire Cider and Elderberry syrup which help lessen fevers and other symptoms of winter illness.
Home and Crafts
For the gray winter days, there are several uses for dried herbs that can brighten homes and even cars.  Potpourris in baskets or bowls placed in rooms provide aromas to soothe or revitalize homes. Smaller portions of potpourris can be placed in cloth bags or sachets to be placed in drawers, closets, and even cars.  Grind some potpourris and add it to baking soda to create a carpet freshener – sprinkle on carpet and vacuum. 
Winter also brings dry skin and it feels good to do a little exfoliating.  Two simple herbal scrubs can do the job.  Here’s a blog that explains just how to make your own.

Don’t have a supply of dried herbs?  We keep a goodly amount in a big basket on the bottom shelf at our display in Urban Basics (209 E Main St in Battle Ground).  There are bags of dried herbs for all sorts of herbal projects, whether culinary, medicinal, home and beauty or even pets.  Let  imagination take hold and put some dried herbs to use.
 

Earlier this month we took a culinary herbs tour around the world with Naturescaping members.  We looked at herbs cooks use in many regions of the world and how SW WA local area cooks have been influenced historically by people who moved here since our beginning in 1820 (around the time Fort Vancouver was established). As part of the tour, there was an opportunity to taste several cookies with flavors from other countries.  Below are the recipes for those three cookies so anyone can make some and share them with others.  Enjoy!
(sorry there are no pictures - these were all just that tasty that none were left!)

Chinese Almond Cookies – traditional holiday cookies said to bring good luck in the New Year.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Ingredients

• 1 1/3 C almond flour
  
• 1 C butter- room temperature
• 1 eggs
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 ¾ C white flour
• 1 C plus 2 Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
  
• Sliced or whole almond for decoration. Brush with egg glaze before baking.

Beat almond flour, sugar, salt in mixer.  Add eggs and extract, beat until smooth. Pat dough together into a disc.  Chill for 2 hours.  Roll dough into ¾”balls, press slightly into coin shapes, top with almond.
Egg glaze:   1 egg
                    1 Tbsp cool water
         Beat egg and water until smooth. Brush on cookies before baking
Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes.

Finnish “S” Cookies – during Finland’s fight for independence, these cookies served as a signal at gatherings that it was alright to speak freely
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients

• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 C butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 C flour

Topping:   ½ C sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon for rolling dough

Whisk dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.  Using a mixer, beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat again.  Add dry ingredients and mix slowly until stiff but comes together
Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Roll dough into long cylinders about ½” thick.  Cut into 2-3” lengths and shape into an ‘S’.  Roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Bake 8-11 minutes.

Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies – Latin cookies with an unexpected spicy kick
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Ingredients

• 1 C butter at room temperature
  
• 1 ½  C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 T vanilla
• ½ C cocoa powder
• 2 ¼  C flour
• ½  tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
  
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper

Whisk dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy.   Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Place heaping tablespoons of dough on baking sheet.  Bake about 10 minutes

Everyone likes a hand crafted gift. As the holidays come upon us, there will be lots of gatherings, parties, and gifts to share with teachers, instructors, care providers and other service providers (we give gifts to our vet and postal office every year). Many gifts are easy to make at home with ingredients from your pantry including herbs and items from around the house.  For some specific ideas and instructions, check out these past blogs from Garden Delights Herb Farm. 

An Herbal Holiday
Five familiar herbs are presented with links to other websites where you can find a variety of recipes for gifts.  Look for ideas from the kitchen including goodies to eat, personal care products and products for household uses.  Great gift ideas and how to make them for these herbs: peppermint, rosemary, sage, thyme and lavender.

Five Herbal Gifts
Quick and easy herbal gifts using ingredients from your pantry. Specific ideas, herbs to use and directions for making sachets, vinegars, butters, infused salts and sugar and skin scrubs.

Herbal Sugar Scrub
Anyone and everyone would like a natural skin exfoliate which can be used on many body parts.  Learn about herbal skin scrubs, how to make them and what herbs work best on the skin.  These will make a great gift for anyone of your holiday list.

The International Herb Society has chosen Yarrow as the herb of the year for 2024.  Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, is a well-known perennial found throughout the world.  Its name comes from the famed warrior Achilles whom it is said used it to staunch the wounds of his soldiers.  Soldiers in many wars used it for the same purpose and it is found in our kitchen to stop all those little cuts and scrapes that happen there.

In the garden or landscape, yarrow will fit in easily. 
It is typically:

• Drought tolerant – isn’t too particular about soil or light conditions
• Deer resistant
• Delicate ferny foliage and clusters of flowers are attractive to butterflies and other beneficial pollinators
• Blooms throughout the summer if deadheaded regularly
• Not too particular about the soil or light
• Start from seeds but will spread from underground runners
• Doesn’t take up a lot of space (unless you let it!)

Yarrow has appeared in our blog musings several times and we believe it is well deserved to be the Herb of The Year.

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is the herb we think of as the leafy piece of green garnish on the side of the plate in a fancy restaurant.  Usually it gets left on the plate, scraped into the trash (hopefully the compost!) an unsung herbal hero.  There was a reason for its appearance on the plate – to refresh a customer’s breath and help digest that tasty meal that had just been consumed.  That little bit of garnish has all but disappeared, gone by the wayside mostly due to costs.  It was so unappreciated.  Why would restaurants continue to spend money on something that was just going in the trash?!

We subscribe to the adage – be a lifelong learner.  So much to learn so little time.  Often when we are putting together a new class, an article for Green Living magazine or even a Blog, we will do some research about a topic.  Granted we use the internet but sometimes there is so much to sort through, so often we turn to our personal library.  Over the years we have collected quite a stack of books related to herbs.  Most of them have been thoughtful buys, some recommended by other herbalists and maybe, just maybe, one or two we have wondered later why we purchased them.  Because April is National Library week, we’d like to share some of our book finds and favorites.

March commemorates the beginning of spring.  Ah, spring with thoughts of getting the garden started and playing in the dirt at last.  And then it’s more rain, so let’s think about some spring cleaning while we wait for the sun to show up.  We’ve been pretty much indoors for several months and the house is beginning to look and feel like the dog who just spent the last two hours in the pasture – a little smelly and not really clean.  Sure we’ve vacuumed a few times, kept up with the toilet scrub brush but spring is about beginning anew and fresh scents of the outdoors.  Let’s do a little more thorough cleaning, bring spring indoors before we get outdoors to enjoy it.

We tell gardeners, new and experienced, that herbs are easy to grow.  They don’t require a lot of watering, maintenance, and are free of diseases and insect pests.  Some herb plants even help to ward off these garden problems.  Guess it is time to qualify that statement after giving it some thought because we have had some of these nuisances in our herb beds. 
For the most part we don’t think too much about an aphid here or there on the lemon verbena or a slug hiding in the marjoram. At the end of the growing season many plants get powdery mildew and that’s just part of the cycle.  But if there is a whole infestation of aphids, as there has been once or twice on the lemon verbena, then Super Gardener has to come to the rescue.

Winter is on us which could bring colds, sniffly noses and sore throats.  It is a time when we might want to kick our immune systems into high gear.  Two herbs that will enhance the body’s natural defense system are echinacea and elderberry. 

Do you enjoy chai? It wasn't a tea blend that we were overly fond of, as most chai teas are based on black tea, which we don't enjoy.  But we've crafted a recipe based on a few we've found online to create a rooibos or red based tea that includes some amazing immune system supportive herbs.  Isn't that the way all good recipes start? Searching for what you want and need online, and gathering a couple of resources & recipes together - smooshing them just right to create the best recipe & blend for you?!

Tulsi has been honored in India as one of its most sacred plants for over 3,000 years.  In ancient times it was called the “Queen of Herbs”, and considered to be the living gateway between heaven and earth.  In India it is often planted in and around homes, since it is thought to bring good luck. As the herb moved along the trade routes from Asia to Europe, early Christians considered it sacred and called it “holy basil”.  It is has many healthful properties and as an adaptogen, it is an herb that is useful in building and nourishing good health all around.

Growing Tulsi
There are several different varieties of holy basil – some perennial and others annual.  The holy basil variety that we grow is commonly known as Rama, and is an annual that we plant from seed.  Like the common culinary basil, Ocimum basilicum, tulsi is native to India and western Asia.  So it prefers hot weather and lots of sunshine.  Here in the Northwest, we find that it is best to wait until sometime in early June to plant the tiny black seeds.  The seeds will germinate in as little as 1 week or 2, and leaves should be ready for harvest in 3-4 weeks.  We grow it in our veggie garden where it gets watered regularly, which helps it grow vigorously.  Basils, including holy basil, can grow well in containers, just be sure to water it regularly to keep it from drying out.

Late summer provides us with a plethora of garden fresh goodies - squash, potatoes, corn and lots more!  Check out these recipes that feature late summer garden fresh produce, flavored with herbs (of course!).

Ah, the good old summertime - picnics and ants, camping and mosquitoes, and hiking and poison oak.  Whoa, wait a minute what happened to all the summer fun?  It can still be there with a few simple herbal additions to your “preparedness” kit.  Itching and rashes shouldn’t have to ruin the outdoor adventures we’re all seeking this time of year - most especially this year.

Lots of herbs are green and leafy, well almost all of them.  But there is one that most of us probably don’t recognize as an herb that is full of vitamins and minerals and specifically beneficial for women’s health.  This year it is being recognized by the International Herb Association (IHA) as the herb of the year.  The IHA names the genus Rubus or brambles as herb of the year.  The two most familiar members of this genus are blackberries and raspberries.  For us in the Pacific Northwest, we are well acquainted with both – domestic and wild.

Since raspberries are in season now and the leaves are tender and young, that is the bramble we’ll focus on.  Although the berries and leaves may be credited with healing properties, it is the leaves that are typically used in Chinese and European herbal medicine.  Red raspberry leaves contain many vitamins and minerals, including calcium, iron, and magnesium, which are all vital for uterine health and may be lacking from the diet.  The herb also contains other essential nutrients like potassium, phosphorus, and manganese and Vitamins C, A, E, and B complex. 

1. There is so much information flying about right now about what herbs to use, how to use them, which herbs NOT to use, cytokine storms (what?!) and so much more.  We don’t want to add to the noise, but we did want to share what we’ve gathered these past couple of weeks and also what our plans are for weathering these next few months and what herbs we plan to rely on.  There are also some resources below that we really enjoy and trust, including some free classes and reading – perfect for some quieter time and to add to your herbal knowledge through home study.

What herbs we’ll be using
With all the information being tossed out in the news, on social media and even from friends and family, it can be difficult to parse out just what you should be doing.  It can feel like you’re not prepared, you don’t know enough, and why, oh why didn’t you start or expand your herb garden last year?! 

Here are some of the steps and herbs we think are important to take control of your own health during a time such as the pandemic we are experiencing now:
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1. Inventory your herbs – know what you’ve got and how much; now is not the time to panic buy herbs of all kinds that may be useful.  There is still so much we don’t know about this virus, and as a living entity, it can change, morph and evolve into something new and different.  Its best to know what you currently have access to in your herbal pantry.  If you don’t know – you can’t use it.  Which leads us to the next step.